My advice: stick to your daily word count! Technically, you need 1667 words a day, minimum, to make the 50K deadline. Especially in the beginning, try to go for 2000 words a day. Get ahead on your word count early so when you hit the mid-novel slump (and you will), you've got some word padding.

Also, avoid contractions in writing to up your word count - "didn't" is one word; "did not" is two words.